early and leaving me fully in charge all the time now that everything seems to be working smoothly here.”
“Oh no,” Ildaria breathed. “You don’t think he’ll really do that, do you?” That would certainly make it hard for her to convince him to be her life mate.
“Yes, I do. He was putting out feelers last night, mentioning to everyone who entered the club that he has a nice apartment and good pay for anyone who wishes to take over his job as doorman,” she told her sadly. “It’s why I came to see you today.”
“Damn,” Ildaria breathed, dropping back in her seat.
“Yeah.” Sofia eyed her sympathetically. “You need to step up your game, Ildaria, or you might lose the chance. I suspect he’s uncomfortable enough with his feelings for you that he might not return at all. He’ll just leave me to run the place and stay in England.”
Ildaria sat still for a moment, her mind racing. The last two weeks had been wonderful in a way. She had her own place, and she loved her job. It was true she and G.G. hadn’t spent a lot of time together when not dreaming, but the truth was she’d been too tired to really worry about it too much. And it wasn’t just the shared dreams that had been making her tired. Aside from her double duty at the Night Club, Ildaria had been working at the restaurant as well. She’d given her notice two weeks ago and had rearranged her shifts so they wouldn’t interfere with her work hours here, but that still meant she had been missing a lot of sleep, and what sleep she had got was not very restful thanks to the shared dreams. Dreams G.G. didn’t even realize he was sharing with her.
“He knows about immortals. Why doesn’t he realize we’re having shared dreams?” she asked with bewilderment.
“From what I’ve read from his mind, while he does know about shared dreams, and did wonder at one point if that was what he was experiencing, in the end he decided not.”
“Why?” Ildaria asked with surprise.
“Because he doesn’t feel like you are really there,” Sofia said gently, and when Ildaria’s confusion showed in her expression, she explained, “You’re letting him have his way in the dreams. The settings come from his thoughts, as does what happens. You never take control yourself, you just kind of go along for the ride. That’s probably because you’re not all that experienced,” she added quickly. “But whatever the case, it’s convinced him that he’s just having these dream fantasies about you on his own, and they’re so powerful and incessant that he’s beginning to feel like a perv.” She let that sink in and then said, “While Marguerite was concerned about how he might react to finding out he’s a possible life mate to you, and I did too, I think at this point he’d be relieved that he isn’t just gaining an unhealthy obsession with you.”
They were both silent for a moment as Ildaria considered that and then Sofia said, “Come on then, go throw on some clothes and we’ll head out to find you sexy outfits and books to help you seduce G.G. You can eat your sandwich in the car.”
Even Ildaria was surprised when she slid docilely off her chair and headed for the bedroom without argument. But she had to do something or G.G. would fly off to England. If he did, she could lose him altogether. Ildaria couldn’t afford to follow him right away, and he was mortal. Accidents happened. She needed to step up her game, and she had no idea how to do that. She needed help.
Seven
Ildaria glanced at the dashboard clock as she pulled into her parking spot, surprised to see that it was only 2 p.m. She and Sofia hadn’t been shopping long. Well, actually, Sofia was still at the mall. She said she had some things to get and would Uber it home. Ildaria had offered to wait, but Sofia had insisted she head home. She wanted her to get to work reading “the instructive books” she’d chosen and “get an idea” of what she needed to do to seduce G.G.
“Instructive books,” Ildaria muttered, reaching over to grab the two bags on the passenger’s seat. One held half a dozen romance novels and the other, a see-through nightie, all of which Sofia had picked and purchased for her. Getting seduction advice from romance novels was ridiculous enough, but the nightie . .